Durrell Smith is the co-founder of the Minority Outdoor Alliance. He and his wife Ashley created the non-profit as a way of “bringing the unlikely to the outdoors”. Growing up in Atlanta he was fortunate to have access to nature just outside his grandfather’s back door. While hunting wasn’t part of his upbringing this small connection to the outdoors sparked big ideas beyond the urban setting. As a young adult, Durrell developed a passion for a life built around upland bird hunting. Today he shares his experience and knowledge with others through a blog and podcast called The Sporting Life Notebook.

Eric Hanson is CA BHA's Chapter Chair. Eric was born and raised in Santa Monica, Calif. Despite growing up a city boy, he spent summers camping in national parks and learned to backpack and shoot in Boy Scouts. After college, Eric worked at a magazine in Chicago that covered the red meat industry, where he had an insider's look at how most Americans get their meat. A spark was lit to learn and experience more about where our food really comes from. In his early 30s Eric began hunting and fishing. Soon he had his own bird dog and hunted the local national forests for quail and rabbit. Now he pursues upland and big game throughout California and across the country. Eric feels fortunate to have had a wide range of outdoors experience on our public lands. When he joined BHA he realized he had found his people and enjoys supporting the organization’s mission by working on policy and communications issues, as well as by bringing a diverse group of emergent hunters (a term he coined) and anglers into the fold. He’s passionate about sharing his experiences--as well as wild game cooking--with friends, acquaintances, and anyone else who will listen. Eric lives in Northeast Los Angeles with his wife, Lauren, daughter, Hannah, son, Zev, and Brittany, Barley. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and received his law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law. He works as a lawyer, photographer, and writer.